Where there is pain, love can bloom
by sparks-will-fly
Summary: Whatever is the go between Hermione and Charlie


Hermione struggles awake trying to remember what had woken her as her stomach lurches violently, sending her quickly towards the bucket located at the edge of her bed. She lays back against the pillows exhausted, shivering even though a sheen of sweat covers her brow. Her eyes feel swollen and puffy from many hours of tears. Molly Weasley appears at the door with a tray of food, concern evident on her face. "Come on dear, sit up and try to eat something. You have a long day in front of you. The funeral starts at 11..." the sentence hangs unfinished in the air between them as she looks lovingly at the young girl in front of her. The news of her parents deaths had shocked them all. Not least of all Hermione who had been searching desperately for them in Australia since the end of the war.

As a decorated war hero, the Ministry had put a lot of man power and time into locating Hermione's parents. They had finally succeeded in doing so, however it did not have the outcome everyone had been hoping for. They had been involved in an accident not even 24hrs before hand. Hermione had arrived at the muggle hospital just in time to say good bye to her mother. Her grief had caused her to lock herself away from everyone, the only person who had been allowed to enter her room was Molly and that had only been because she threatened to blow the door off the room if Hermione did not let her in after the 3rd day.

Molly fights the urge to grin as Hermione struggles to sit up obediently. Her face was beginning to regain some colour although dark circles under her eyes showed she was still getting little sleep. It had been a bitter fight to get her to eat anything to start with. While it was getting easier to get her to eat, she was still unable to keep most of it down. Molly lays a modest black top and skirt out on the end of the bed, bustling about as Hermione pulls tiny morsels from her plain toast. The smell alone was making her stomach turn threateningly. Tears prickle at her eyes and a sniffle escapes. Molly holds out a potion bottle to her. "Here, you might need this today. It should give you some relief from the nausea." Hermione nods her head in thanks, downing the pale blue liquid in one gulp. She knew Mrs Weasley had her suspicions about what was making her so queasy, however Hermione had decided that one life changing event at a time was all she could handle. Anything else could wait until after her parents were laid to rest.

The funeral passes in a blur of people and words. Hermione finds herself focusing on the swaying branches of the huge big tree they were gathered under, rather then what people were saying about her beloved parents. Someone holds out a basket of rose petals to her so that she can take some. She clutches the delicate petals bruising them as she steps up to the edge of the coffin. She stops as a gentle gust of wind swirls around her legs and messes up her hair, a smile crossing her lips as she hears the beautiful chorus of a pair of blue birds sitting above her in the tree. It was then that she realised her parents were at peace, together, as they would have wanted. The petals drop from her fingertips, circling gently in the breeze as they float down to land softly on the pale coloured wood of the coffin. No longer bruised and battered as they had been just seconds before but beautiful and vibrant, as though they had just been pulled from the stem.

Charlie stands to the back of the gathering. His fingers twitch to be holding her hand in support as she steps up to the coffin. He watched mesmerised as the breeze blows some of her hair free from its confines, his breath catching in his throat at how beautiful she looks even thru all her grief. He watches the rose petals fall from her hand, glowing with a shimmering light no one else present seems to notice. He turns to leave abruptly as tears begin to stream down his cheeks. He hadn't realised until that moment just how much he felt for his brother's best friend.


End file.
